Last week, I went to the library. After six years. I was getting my card renewed so that my mum could use it. I don’t go to the library anymore. My mum is nearing 60. She goes to the library.

When I went to get the card renewed, it was so nice to see a place of silence, thought, books, wifi and calm. I’ve always loved the idea of a library.

But I know that it won’t be long before no one shows up.

How did the library get it wrong?

The library thinks it is about books.
Physical, hard copy books.

So that is all they’ve got to offer.

But in the day of Kindle, the Book Depository and crumbling bookshops, it seems we aren’t so interested in hard copy books anymore.

I could have told them.

Libraries to me are about quiet spaces. About learning. About diving into different worlds. About having a hushed conversation about this author and that verse. About coming back for more.

Libraries could be about author conversations. They could be about recommended books of the month. They could be about children reading aloud. They could be about mums sessions. They could be about learning more with a video room or a book club.

Libraries forgot that they are a place of learning.

Not a building of hard-cover books.

No amount of Facebook posts or tweets or newsletter drops or other marketing can save the library if it doesn’t remember what it ever meant to us.